


Troublesome Boy

by lexwing



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 16:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1033782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexwing/pseuds/lexwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Futurefic.  Rumple and Belle have a fifteen-year-old daughter.  Snow and Charming have a sixteen-year-old son.  Gold does not like how that adds up.  Not one bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Troublesome Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s note: With all the talk of babies in episode 50 this story idea took hold of me and wouldn’t let go. Enjoy!

Storybrooke, Maine

Seventeen years from now

 

_Thump._

   Mr. Gold did his best to ignore the sound.  He tried instead to focus his attention on the silver he was polishing.  It was a beautiful set, obtained from a prince who had fallen on hard times back in their old world.  The family only used it for special occasions.  But today was a very special occasion indeed.

_Thump._

   He gritted his teeth.

_Thump._

_Thump._

   The relentless sound of a basketball bouncing against the pavement outside finally became too much to bear.  He set aside his polishing rag and apron and opened the door overlooking the backyard.

   “Helena, must you do that now?”  He demanded of the young woman standing in his driveway.

   His daughter paused, mid-throw.  “I have to practice, Dad.  I’m not about to let Chris beat me in one-on-one again, even if he is taller than me now.  Watch this.”  With a practiced flick of her arm the orange ball soared up into the air before dropping neatly through the hoop fastened over the garage door.

   “Very nice,” he said politely.  In truth he had never understood his daughter’s interest in the game.  But he and his wife had agreed long ago that they would encourage their child in all her endeavors.  “Don’t forget your party guests will be here at 6PM and it’s,” he checked his pocket watch, “already after four now.”

   Helena gave him a wide smile.  “I haven’t forgotten.  I am the birthday girl, after all.  The dress Mom made me is already laid out on my bed.  All I’ll need is a fast shower and I’ll be good to go.”

   “Humph.”  Gold couldn’t help but sound unconvinced.

   “Really, Dad.  Mom will be home at five.  Chris and Alice-Rose will be coming by early with the cake and then staying to help decorate.  Everything’s under control.  Just relax.”  As if to prove her point Helena made another perfect shot and held up her hands in triumph.

   Gold peered at the sky.  It was early November, and the sun was already low overhead.  There was a bite to the air that made him glad for his suit jacket.

   “You’ve got another half an hour,” he finally said.  “Then I want you inside, young lady.”  He tried to sound stern, but he knew he was indulging her as he always did.

   She rewarded him with another smile, one so like her mother’s that it made his heart do strange things inside his chest to see it.  He retreated back into the warm house.

   “Fifteen years old,” he murmured to himself.  “Fifteen.  Five minutes ago she was a baby.  How the hell did this happen?”

   He knew perfectly well how it had happened, he reminded himself as he finished his polishing and began to set the table for the party.  Helena had grown up.  With more than two hundred and fifty years separating the birth of his first child and the birth of his second he had quite simply forgotten how fast children grew. 

   His only daughter had grown from a tiny baby to a chubby toddler to a tomboy seemingly in the blink of an eye.  Now she was a young woman, long-limbed and willowy, taller than her mother.  She was almost as tall as he was.  She had Belle’s dark hair and blue eyes, his nose, and (to his eternal relief and gratitude) her mother’s calm and rational temperament. 

   They had named the baby ‘Helena’ after Belle’s late mother.  In the year before Helena had been born Belle had learned a great deal about her own mother and about her mother’s family.  This had been the result of a chance encounter with one of Belle’s maternal aunts, Melanippe.  It was from Melanippe that Belle had learned her mother had once been known as Hippolyta, a woman renown for both her courage and her beauty.

   Gold knew it still hurt Belle that her father had not been the one to tell her the truth about her mother.  Moe had had his reasons, of course.  But the revelation had strained Belle’s already tenuous relationship with her father to the breaking point.  Even now the two were civil, but not close. 

   Moe did seem genuinely fond of his granddaughter, though.  The stubborn old man had refused to come to Helena’s birthday party.  But his present was already stacked on the table in the entry hall with all the others that had arrived.

   As he limped upstairs to check that the guestroom was in order Gold pondered this.  Melanippe—Mel, as the family called her now-- often said that Helena was very like her maternal grandmother.  Forthright, brave, kind, even skilled with a sword, thanks to her great-aunt’s training. 

   Perhaps that was what softened Moe’s heart towards the girl a bit, Gold mused.  Even if the girl’s father was a Beast.

   In the room his grandson Henry and his wife would be staying in Gold smoothed the covers and made sure there were clean towels in the small bathroom.  The couple would be making the trip up from Boston just for the occasion, and by the time the party broke up it would be too late for them to drive home.  Besides, Henry wanted to visit his adoptive mother while he was in town.

   Gold turned his mind back to the matter at hand.  Helena was indeed brave and bold, but this last year had still been a particularly stressful one for him as her father.  Baelfire had been fourteen when Gold had lost him.  No sooner had Helena reached that same age than Gold had developed a vague but gnawing sense of dread that something would happen, would go wrong, before Helena reached her next birthday.

   But nothing had.  The worst thing that had occurred was when she had come home from a slumber party with ugly red streaks marring her beautiful chestnut hair.  Gold had hit the ceiling, causing Helena to storm right back at him and then stomp off to her room, slamming the door behind him.

   The confrontation had so unnerved him, so reminded him of his arguments with his son, that Belle had had a fair amount of soothing to do with both father and daughter when she’d finally arrived home from work.

   “Darling,” she had told him, gently taking his hand in her own.  “We’ve talked about this before.  Parents and children fight.  Particularly when those children are teenagers.  It doesn’t mean what happened with Neal is going to happen with Helena.”

   “I drove a wedge between myself and my son,” he’d said miserably.  “It was all my own doing.  I can’t bear the idea that I’m doing the same with our daughter.”

   “I know you love Helena with all your heart, Rumple,” Belle had told him, using his old name.  “But part of loving a child is disciplining them.  You can’t let Helena walk all over you like you did when she was little.”

   He had opened his mouth to protest, and then had closed it.  Belle was right—he had spoiled his daughter.  There had been nothing in the world little Helena’s indulgent Papa had not been willing to obtain for her if she asked.  Fortunately she’d been such a well-behaved child that he hadn’t seen the harm in it at the time.

   Belle’s mouth had quirked a bit at the corners.  “Does her hair really look that dreadful?”  She had asked.

   “It does to me.  She has such beautiful natural hair.  Like yours.”  Already he had felt calmer.  Talking things out with Belle never failed to make him feel better.

   She had sighed.  “Then hopefully it will rinse out.  But it could have been worse.  She could have come home with a tattoo or a ring through her nose!  And as far as teenage rebellion goes personally I’m willing to put up with a little hair dye, aren’t you?”

   They had both laughed then.  By dinner time Helena had forgiven him for yelling and he had forgiven her for being impulsive and all had been right with the world again.  By then no one had really cared that the red streaks had indeed been permanent.  They were really only now beginning to fade.

   So lost was he in these musings that Gold was startled when the doorbell chimed downstairs.

   He groaned inwardly, knowing all too well what was on the other side of those doors.  Leaning on his cane he went down the ornate front stairs and opened the stained glass front doors.

   “Hello, Mr. Gold.  May I come in?”

   The young man totting an enormous pink bakery box was sixteen and now taller than Gold was.  He was dark-haired like his mother, but he had his father’s broad shoulders and good looks.  Christopher Nolan was a natural athlete and a fair hand with a sword as well.

   He was also in love with Gold’s daughter.

   Oh, the boy pretended he wasn’t, pretended their relationship was just the same as it had been when he and Helena had been children running and playing in the yard.

   But Gold wasn’t fooled.  He saw how Christopher looked at Helena in private.  It seemed an awful lot like how the Prince looked at Snow or, Gold suspected, how he himself looked at Belle.

   Thus Gold hated this troublesome boy.  Sometimes at night when he couldn’t sleep he wondered how he might turn the boy into a snail or a fly and somehow dispose of him without either his wife or his daughter catching on.  But that was impossible, so Gold folded his hands on top of his cane and was polite.

   “Hello, Christopher.  Helena said you’d be here.”

   “I have the cake,” the young man said unnecessarily.  “A gift from Granny and Ruby.  They said to tell you they’ll drop by after the diner closes.  It’s chocolate-chocolate chip, with chocolate frosting.  You know Helena and chocolate.”

   “Indeed I do.”

   Was it Gold’s imagination, or did the boy blush a bit as he spoke? 

   A spider, Gold thought.  Yes, a spider would be a better choice than a snail…

   “Hello, Uncle.  May we come in?”  A smaller, secondary voice interrupted his musings, a voice that was entirely more welcome to Gold’s ears.

   Alice-Rose was only twelve and small for her age, which was why Gold had not initially seen her standing behind the Nolan brat.  She had her arms full of what looked like party decorations.

   “Of course, child, of course.”  Gold decided he had no choice but to stand aside and wave them both in.  “Put the cake on the dining room table,” he ordered the boy.

   After Christopher had passed Alice-Rose paused before Gold and smiled up at him.  “How are you, Uncle?”  She asked.

   “I’m very well, thank you,” he lied. 

   It always took him a moment to try and calculate how the two of them were related.  Alice-Rose was Mel’s daughter.  Mel was the youngest of all of Hippolyta’s sisters, only ten years older than Belle.  Among her people women were not supposed to marry.  But to everyone’s great surprise, including the groom’s, Mel had chosen Jefferson Hatter as a spouse.  The two had married some two years after Gold and Belle’s own ceremony.

  So by his calculations that made the child Gold’s wife’s cousin and Helena’s first cousin once removed, even though Helena was older than she was.  Adding to that was his and Jefferson’s long association in their old world as, well, Gold supposed “business associates” was the most appropriate and politest term he could use.

   He rolled his eyes.  No wonder Alice-Rose had always just called him “Uncle Gold.”

   She now gazed up at him with the same blue eyes all the women in his family possessed.  It was a knowing look, one better suited to someone much older. 

   Alice-Rose had been born a seer.  The ability had manifested abruptly and alarmingly at three years old.  The child had announced in the middle of a family gathering that Henry had just fallen down some stairs and broken his arm.  Henry had been away at college at the time, hundreds of miles away.  At first all the adults had laughed somewhat nervously at the pronouncement—well, everyone but Gold, that is.  Then the phone had started ringing.  It was Henry’s roommate, explaining that Henry had slipped on some icy stairs and was now on his way to the hospital. 

   Gold had not figured out if Alice-Rose’s ability was somehow related to Jefferson’s former portal jumping abilities; if it was a product of the time he had spent in Wonderland; or if the child’s abilities rested somehow in the ancient magic practiced by her mother’s people.  All he knew for certain was that so far those abilities were raw and un-honed.  As he had the time he had been working with her to develop them. 

   But the girl already had an uncanny ability to sense when others around her were troubled by something, even if she wasn’t yet old enough to piece together why.  The last thing he wanted now was for the little mite to figure out that Gold was jealous a teenage boy might be about to steal his daughter away from him.

   “Go on into the dining room,” Gold now told her gently. 

   He followed her in and found Helena and the boy already talking animatedly together.  Helena was still in her grubby t-shirt and jeans, but her pretty face glowed with excitement.  The boy was hanging on her every word.

   To his relief Gold saw Belle’s car pull into the driveway.  “Your mother’s home,” he told his daughter.  “Go upstairs and get cleaned up for her, please.”

   She nodded. 

   “Alice-Rose, you tell Chris where you want the streamers and he’ll put them up for you.”  She told the child.  “You have such a good eye for decorations.  And, Chris, you do what she tells you,” she said sternly.

   Alice-Rose giggled, and Chris saluted.

   Gold followed his daughter to the foot of the stairs. 

   “Dad, keep an eye on them, ok?” She asked.  “And would you get Chris something to drink?  He came straight over from football practice so he could help out.  A soda, maybe?”

   “Of course.  Perhaps I won’t even poison it this time.”

   When Helena shot him a dark look he held up one hand defensively.

   “Only a quip, dearie.”

   “Not funny, Dad,” she shot back as she bounded up the stairs.

 

* * *

  

   Belle was already bustling around the kitchen when he entered.  She’d popped his apron on over her work clothes and was pulling food out of the fridge.

   “You just got home, love.  Why don’t you sit down for a moment and catch your breath?”

   She shook her head at him.  “I’m fine.  I just wanted to put the manicotti in the oven so it will be nice and hot when the guests arrive.  The kids can all have pizza, but I think the rest of us will appreciate something a little more grown-up.  The Nolans are bringing wine.”

   Gold looked at her sharply.  “Snow and David are coming?  David doesn’t have to work?” 

   “He and Mel flipped a coin to see who’d take this shift at the sheriff’s station and Mel lost.  Jefferson’s going over to keep her company.  You know she’s not big on birthdays anyway.  And she and Jefferson already gave Helena their present.”

   “The new bow and the quiver full of arrows?  Yes, I saw them.”

   “Aren’t they beautiful?  Mel went over to the Enchanted Forest and traded one of her old swords with Roland so he’d make the set for Helena.  Roland is such a nice young man.”

   Gold shrugged.  “He’s Robin Hood’s son.  I suppose that comes with the territory.”

   Belle shook her head at him as she set an oven timer.  “You like Robin.”

   “I don’t _dislike_ Robin,” he corrected.  “I do, however, deeply question his taste in women.”

   Belle pulled a platter full of vegetables out and set it on the counter.  “Even you have to admit marriage and motherhood have softened Regina.  At least a little bit.”

   “I hear her two boys are holy terrors.”

   “Richard and Chauncey?  Oh, I don’t think they’re any wilder than other boys their ages.  Robin keeps them in line.”

   Gold shrugged.  One of the odd side effects of now having this world and their old one joined was the way people moved back and forth between them.  Regina, at least for now, was on the other side with her husband and family.  He never would have expected it of his old rival.  But then he was the first to admit that True Love did do strange and unexpected things to people.

   Belle had been the first mayor of Storybrooke to serve after Regina had left.  She’d enjoyed the work, but the hours had been long and Helena had still been very young.  Gold hadn’t minded picking up Helena after school and keeping her with him in the shop every day.  But Belle had worried she was missing out on too many of her daughter’s milestones.  So after one term Archie Hopper had been elected, and he’d made a surprisingly decent mayor for the town for many years.  Mulan was Storybrooke’s newest mayor, in office barely a year, but thus far her tenure was proving a success.

   With his bad leg Gold could be of no help to his wife as she carried plate after plate of food into the dining room for their guests.  He was content to stand back as Belle worked.  He’d learned long ago that when Belle set to work on something she was unstoppable, and that it was better to just stay out of her way.

   “How many people are we feeding, again?”  He asked in wonder as he viewed the sumptuous spread of food developing before him.

   “Only about a dozen or so of Helena’s friends,” Belle reported as she put out more chips.  “About the same number of adults, and a few of the younger children, too.”

   “Everything looks great, Mrs. Gold,” Christopher told her as he swiped a carrot stick off the table.  “I’m starving!”

   “Just save room for cake,” Belle said with a smile.  Her smile widened as Alice-Rose approached her and tugged on her hand.

   “Hello, sweetheart,” she told her young cousin.  “Your decorations look great!  Purple is Helena’s favorite color.”

   “I know.  Thanks.  I just wanted to let you know that Henry and Grace are here.”

   Belle looked around her in confusion for a moment, until they all saw another pair of headlights sweep into the driveway.

   “Oh, so they are!  Will you go and let them in?”

   “Sure.” 

   The child scrambled out onto the porch.  Belle shot her husband a quick look.  “Will it ever stop being strange to me when she does that?”  She asked softly.

   “Probably not.”

   From outside came the sound of car doors slamming and of happy voices.  A moment later Gold’s grandson Henry came into the house.

   “Something smells good!”  He announced.  “Is that Belle’s manicotti?”

   “It is.”  Belle held her arms open wide for her step-grandson, and the two embraced.  “How was the trip?”

   “Not too bad.”

   “We stopped every few hours.  Although if I never see another stand selling maple syrup it will be too soon,” his wife, Grace, announced as she followed him inside.  She was arm-in-arm with her young half-sister but exchanged kisses with Belle.

   “Hello, Henry,” Gold said quietly.  As always he paused nervously, unsure if he should reach out for his grandson or not.

   Henry, however, didn’t hesitate, throwing an arm around his grandfather’s shoulders for a quick but firm hug.

   “Hiya, Grandpa.  How are things?”

   “Fine, Henry, fine.”  Gold paused for a moment before releasing his grandson.

   Henry chuckled.  “What?”

   “You look more like your father every time I see you.  Except around the eyes.  You still look like Emma around the eyes,” Gold said with a sage nod.

   “Yeah, that’s what Neal says, too.  About my eyes, I mean.  Hey, I don’t mean to spoil the party, but my publisher just sent me a revised book contract.  Care to take a look at it?”

   Gold knew his grandson was teasing him.  “Of _course_ I want to look at it .  You know you can’t trust anyone these days!”

   “ _After_ the party,” Grace told her husband sternly.

   “Sweetheart…”  Henry began.

   “After the party,” the young woman repeated.  “Tonight’s about Helena, not about your next book.”

   Henry, knowing he was beaten, sighed the sigh of many millions of husbands before him. 

   Gold tried hard not to laugh as he looked at his granddaughter-in-law approvingly.  Henry and Grace had known each other as children, of course, but they had never been particularly close.  Henry had left Storybrooke to go to college.  Grace, a talented artist, had spent some years living and teaching school in the Enchanted Forest.  Grace had only later discovered, quite by accident, that she could also safely cross the town lines into the world without magic that surrounded them.  Another odd inheritance from Jefferson, Gold suspected. 

   Grace and Henry had met up again quite by accident in Boston, where she was working as a freelance illustrator and Henry was trying to get his writing career off the ground.  They had dated for only a few months before marrying.

   But then, had it really only been an accident that had brought the two of them together?  Gold didn’t think so.  Henry had dated other women, of course.  But it made perfect sense to Gold that his grandson had settled down with someone who knew the truth about who he was and where he came from and who could move comfortably between worlds just as he did.

   “So where’s the birthday girl?”  Henry asked.

   “Here I am.  Hi, guys.”

   Everyone looked up to see Helena sweeping down the stairs.  At least it seemed to Gold that she was sweeping down them in the beautiful blue dress Belle had made for her.  Her hair was loose and flowing down her back and her feet were bare.

   She had her cell phone in her hand.  “Hang on a minute,” she told whoever was on the other end.  “Well, how do I look?”  She demanded of the room.

   They all admired her silently until the moment was ruined by a dull _thunk_ behind them.

   Gold glared over his shoulder to where Christopher was standing, beet-red. 

   “Sorry!”  The boy confessed.  “Uh, Mrs. Gold, I just knocked over one of your bowls.”

   Bell went over to him.  “No harm done.  I’ll get the broom and dustpan.”  She picked up the now-empty earthenware bowl and studied it.  “Not even chipped.” 

   She winked at Gold as she said this, but he wasn’t in the mood to wink back.

   “You got your elbow in the dip, too,” Alice-Rose observed as she gazed at the boy.

   “Seriously?”  He pulled at his sweater.  His flush deepened.  “Ah, man…”

   “Come into the kitchen and we’ll get you cleaned up,” Belle told him.  “And, sweetheart, you look lovely!”  She told Helena as they left the room.

   The girl beamed.  “Thanks, Mom!  And thank you for the dress!” 

   Helena quickly hugged the new arrivals before holding the phone out to her father.  “It’s Neal.  He called to wish me a happy birthday.  He wants to speak to you, too.”

   Gold nodded.  He tentatively took the phone and stepped away from the others.

   “Papa? Is that you?”

   Gold closed his eyes briefly to collect himself, and then opened them again.  “It’s me, Neal.”

   “How is everyone?  How’s Belle?”

   “Everyone’s fine here, Neal.  Although I suspect Helena’s already brought you up to speed.”

   “Yeah, that baby sister of mine does kind of talk your ear off when she wants to,” Neal laughed.  “Listen, I just wanted to apologize again for not being there.”

   Gold shook his head, and then realized his son couldn’t see him over the phone.  “It’s fine, son.  Of course we would have loved you to be here.  But the holidays are coming up soon and there’s no reason for you to make two trips.  You’ll still be here for Thanksgiving, right?”

  “Of course I will.   It’s a holiday that belongs to this world, not yours.  So it’s only fair I do the cooking like I do every year.  Henry and  Grace made it your place ok?”

   “They’re here, they’re fine.”

   “Good.  Papa, you tell that kid of mine to watch his back when he goes to visit Regina.  Robin’s a good guy but the Enchanted Forest is still the Enchanted Forest.  They need to be extra careful, especially now.”

   “I will, Neal, I promise.”  As always Gold longed to say more.  But after so many years he knew better.  As much as Gold had longed to have his boy back Neal was a grown man when they’d been reunited.  The more Gold had pushed the more Neal had pulled away from him.  It had taken him and his son a long time to be able to relate to one another as adults. 

   “Is, uh, is Emma with you?”  Gold asked tentatively.

   There was silence on the other end for a moment.  “She is.  She says ‘hi’ and sends her love.”

   Gold relaxed.  “Good.  She’s good for you, Neal.”

   “I know that, Papa.  Believe me I know.  Listen, I need to go now.  And you’ve got a party to get to, right?”

   “Yes.” 

   “Hey, tell Henry to call me tomorrow before he and Grace head out.”

   “I will.  Take care of yourself, Neal.”

   “Will do.  See you in a few weeks.”

   The line disconnected, and Gold stood still for a few minutes clutching the phone in his hand.  It was always hard—it never stopped being hard—to let his son go, even over the phone.

   When next he looked up Helena was standing next to him.  A faint crease marred her smooth forehead.  “Everything OK?”

   “Your brother is fine.  He’ll see us at Thanksgiving.”

   Helena put a gentle arm around him.  “That’s not what I mean, Daddy.”

   Gold brushed a kiss across her temple.  “I know.  And I really am fine.  But thank you for asking, dearie.”

   The doorbell chimed again.

   “The rest of your guests are arriving, I think.”  He smiled at his daughter.  “Shall we go and let them in?”

   “Oh, let’s shall,” she said with a laugh.

 

* * *

 

   An hour later the party was in full swing, and Gold seized the opportunity to retreat back into the kitchen.

   Being the Mayor’s husband had served him well.  He could now make small talk and politely serve drinks to guests without frightening anyone or embarrassing his wife.  But he could only do it so long before his leg ached from standing and his jaw ached from smiling.

   To his joy he found Belle waiting for him there with an open bottle of wine and two glasses.

   “You held out longer than I thought you would,” she told him proudly as she poured him a glass.

   “I don’t know what’s worse: the music our daughter and her friends listen to or hearing Charming brag about his son all night.”

   The son who was currently dancing with _his_ daughter, Gold thought grimly.  At least dancing was different here.  It seemed to involve mostly standing in place and wriggling about.  There was virtually no physical contact between partners.

   Maybe he’d let the boy live a few more days.  Just a few, mind.

   “You shouldn’t be so hard on Christopher,” Belle told him as she sipped from her own glass.  “Snow and the Prince have every right to be proud of him.  He’d kind, thoughtful, well-mannered, and he’d been a good friend to Helena all these years.”  

   “I seem to recall a time when you weren’t so fond of him.”

   Belle leaned forward.  “Really?  Do tell.”

   “There was that time the two of them tried to run away together.”

   “Rumple, they were both six years old!  They barely got down to Granny’s Cafe before Charming caught up with them.”

   “But you were mad as a wet hen, dearest.”

   “Only because they scared us all so much.”  Belle was quiet for a moment.  “He’s in love with her, you know.”

   Gold nearly choked on his wine.  “What?”  He spluttered.

   “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

   “Of course I have!  I just didn’t think you had!”

   Belle smiled indulgently.  “I’m not blind.  To tell you the truth I think he’s been in love with her since they were children.  She just hasn’t noticed yet.”

   “And if I have anything to say about it she never will.”

   “Surely you’re not saying you don’t think Chris is good enough for our daughter, are you?  Because, technically, he is a prince, after all.”

   “I don’t give a damn who he is,” Gold grumbled.

   His wife sighed and came to sit down next to him.  He couldn’t help but notice she was wearing his favorite dress, one made of soft green silk that made a glorious contrast with her hair.

   “Helena’s growing into a beautiful young woman, sweetheart.  Chris isn’t the first, and I doubt he’ll be the last.”

   “What!”  Gold howled indignantly.  “Who else has been sniffing around my daughter?”

   “That’s a revolting expression, dear—please don’t use it.  Well, there’s Roland…”

   “What!?”  He repeated.  He suddenly seemed to be saying that a lot.

   “Come now.  You don’t think Mel’s third-best sword was really worth all the time and energy Roland put into making that bow and quiver for Helena, do you?”

   “He’s a grown man—twenty, if he’s a day!”

   “Yes, and Helena’s fifteen now.  You know as well as I do that back home she’d probably be married by now.”

   He took a gulp of wine to steady himself.  “Well, we’re not back home, thank the gods.  She’s got her whole life ahead of her.  She doesn’t need to be tied down here!”

   “I agree.  But it’s not going to be up to us when and how True Love happens for Helena.  Don’t forget, love sometimes strikes in the _oddest_ places.” 

   She squeezed his knee as she said this, and Gold suddenly found he was having a little trouble breathing.  He decided a kiss might help. 

   He was still kissing his wife when the kitchen door swung open.

   “You guys, gross!”  Helena protested loudly.  “Do you _have_ to do that?”

   “You wouldn’t be here if we didn’t, dearie,” Gold said archly.

   Helena clapped her hands over her ears in mock horror.

   “Did you need something, my darling daughter?”  Belle asked.

   “Yes, some of the younger kids want to know when we can cut the cake.  It looks fabulous—Granny really outdid herself!”

   “Now’s as good a time as any.”

   Gold reluctantly followed her wife and daughter back into the overcrowded dining room where friends and family awaited.

   Christopher immediately jumped forward to clear a path for them back to the table.  Once there he rapped a spoon on the edge of a water glass until the room quieted and someone turned the music down.

   “Speech!  Speech!”  Ruby called teasingly.

   Helena cleared her throat.  “Gee, thanks, Ruby.”  She said aloud.

   Everyone laughed.

   “OK, well, first I’d like to thank everyone for coming out on this cold night to celebrate my birthday.  I love you all very much and it means a lot to me than you’re all here.  And I’m not just saying that because you guys brought me presents, although that’s really cool, too.”

   The young woman paused for a moment.  “I’d especially like to thank my parents for putting this party together.”  She smiled shyly at Belle and Gold.  “I mean it, you two.  Thanks.”

   Belle reached over and wordlessly hugged her daughter.  Gold found his eyes suddenly felt suspiciously moist.

   “You’re welcome, my dear,” he said quietly as she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

   The guests applauded, and Gold expected the usually round of candle lighting and singing to begin.

   But to his surprise Helen picked up the glass and rapped on it again.

   “I know you all want to dive into this cake, but I do have one more announcement first.  And this announcement involves another really awesome present I only just found out I’m getting.  This present is from Henry and Grace.  And, Alice-Rose, if you know something don’t spoil it for the rest of them, ok?”

   “I do know something,” the child said.  “But I like surprises, too, so I haven’t said anything, honest.”

   Belle and Gold exchanged puzzled looks, as did the other guests. 

   “Take it away, Henry,” Helena said, gesturing to her nephew.

   “Thanks, Helena.  Grace and I really appreciate you letting us have a couple of minutes out of your birthday celebration.”  He took his wife’s hand in his own.  “We just couldn’t think of a better time to share our news with all of you.”

   “Most of you are family, and even if you aren’t we feel like you are,” Grace added.

   “So here’s our news,” Henry said with a dramatic pause.

   “We’re having a baby!”  Grace announced.

   “In April,” Henry added.

   The room exploded into cheers, and well-wishers surged forward patting Henry on the back and hugging Grace.

   Gold felt dizzy.

_The Enchanted Forest is still the Enchanted Forest,_ Neal had said on the phone. _They need to be extra careful, especially now._

   Henry stepped forward, smiling shyly.  For a moment Gold caught a glimpse of the boy Henry had once been.

   “Neal knows, right?  He and Emma?”  Gold asked.

   “Of course.  They’re the first ones we told.  But you two,” Henry looked from Gold to Belle and back again, “are the second.”

   Belle squealed with joy and hugged them both again.  “Thank you both!  Oh, this is such exciting news!  A new baby in the family!”

   “Don’t get too excited yet, Belle,” Grace cautioned.  “After things wind down here we’re going to walk over to the station to we can tell Mel and my dad.  I don’t think he’s going to take it nearly as calmly as you guys have.  I think he may faint.”

   “Or throw up,” Alice-Rose said thoughtfully.  “He could throw up.  But he probably won’t.”

   “I’m sure once he gets used to the idea of being a grandfather he’ll be just as excited as everyone else,” Belle vowed.

   “And, last but never least, we’ll tell Regina,” Henry vowed.  “But since the Enchanted Forest has no cell phone reception we just had to wait until we could tell her in person.”

   “OK, everybody,” Granny’s loud voice cut through the noise.  “We still have a birthday girl here!”

   Everyone settled down and the candles on the cake were lit.  As they all sang Gold couldn’t help but notice the bright, shining eyes in the Nolan boy’s face as he gazed raptly at Helena.

   Helena made her wish, and blew out the candles.

   As the guests all applauded Belle seized the opportunity to squeeze Gold’s arm affectionately.

   “Oh, Rumple, what a wonderful evening!”

   “I suppose it was, yes.”

   “And just think of it, darling!  You’re going to be a great-grandfather!” 

   There was only one possible verbal response Gold could think of as that realization sunk in.

   “Oh, bloody hell!”  He groaned.

  

  

 


End file.
